A bunch of us are planning a short (60+/- mile) ride on Saturday April 10 at 10am, weather permitting. We will be starting from the 'historic district' of Reisterstown, MD at a place called Martha and Mary's ( http://www.marthaandmarysrestaurant.com/ ), and heading to Broom's Bloom Dairy near Bel Air ( http://www.bbdairy.com/ ). Of course we planned the starting and ending points to be food-related venues!
As far as a route goes, this is what I've come up with:
Starting from Main St. (Rt 30) Reisterstown: Right out of Martha and Mary's parking lot onto Main St and ride to Rt 140. Turn right onto Rt. 140 and head to Butler Rd, turn left. Butler Rd to Dover Rd, bear left. Dover Rd all the way to Rt. 88, turn left. Head to the traffic circle, and take 1st right onto Lower (Upper?) Beckleysville Rd. Head to Cotter Rd, turn right. Cotter Rd to Middletown Rd, turn right. Middletown Rd to York Rd, turn right. York Rd to Wiseburg Rd, turn left. Wiseburg Rd to Graystone Rd, turn right. Graystone Rd to Hunter Mill Rd, turn left. Hunter Mill Rd to Troyer Rd, turn left. Troyer Rd to Norrisville Rd, turn right. Norrisville Rd to Federal Hill Rd (Rt 165), turn left. Federal Hill Rd (Rt 165) to Ady Rd (Rt 543), turn right. Ady Rd (Rt 543) becomes Fountain Green Rd (still Rt 543). Broom's Bloom is on Rt. 543 just above Calvary Rd (Rt 136), near the town of Creswell (just SE of Bel Air, and west of Aberdeen). From there you are very close to I-95 (exit #80). Getting home - you guys are on your own!
So part of this is this route called the 'Horses and Hounds' route (part of the 'Scenic Byways of Maryland'), and part of it isn't. I've been on Rt 543 before and I seem to recall that it's a pretty cool road (it was a while ago though). And I've been on everything up to Middletown Road several times, and I think it's interesting. The Lower (Upper?) Beckleysville Rd - Cotter Rd area puts you through Gunpowder State Park, so it's fairly scenic. Traffic in that area should be pretty light. I have not done the roads from York Rd onwards, so hopefully I'll be able to check them out next weekend and report back. Hopefully it's not going to be too much stopping and starting with all those left and right turns!
Our starting point (Main St Reisterstown) has conveniently located gas stations, and I'd recommend topping up your tank just to be safe. I don't know how long this route is, but I'll hopefully find that out next week. I can't imagine it being much more than 60 miles. If it turns out to be too short, I'll see if I can extend the route somewhat.
BTW, Martha and Mary's is a great breakfast spot, so if you want to grab a bite/coffee before we leave, maybe get there earlier than 10am.
I don't know how many riders we'll have in total, but I think there will be a variety of bikes beyond SuperHawks, Dreams, etc. And the pace will be fairly conservative but enough to be interesting (I don't think there will be any knee-dragging though!).
If the weather on the 10th is not cooperative, there is a possibility of making Sunday the 11th the rain date. We'll have to play it by ear.
So there you go....
April 10th Baltimore Area Ride
Hi Susan - Thanks for your comments. The ride is really open to anyone - no cost, no 'pre-registration' or anything. If anyone wants to meet new people and go for a ride, we're going to meet in Reisterstown and leave at 10am. Martha and Mary's does have a parking lot, so hopefully we won't overwhelm them with motorbikes. Hmm...wonder if I should give them a heads-up?
I suspect we might have anywhere from 7-15 bikes total. I don't think there will be 70 bikes or anything like that. If my friends Lee, Scott and Jeff go, plus me, plus a few people from another bike forum ( http://www.dotheton.com ), I think that might make about 8-10. And if you guys come, that will be 12. I can probably get a few more to come. As far as bikes go, I'll be on the SuperHawk, Scott might be on his CB750, Lee might be on his Royal Enfield, Jeff on his Dream or CX500. The folks from the other bike forum will more than likely be on some cafe-inspired bikes, so it will be an interesting variety indeed! Most all the roads are of the two-lane variety, and I don't think the speeds will exceed about 50mph. I think we want to make it relaxing for everyone, pace-wise, but fast enough so that we can take advantage of the nice winding roads. I don't want to be knee dragging, but don't want to be puttering along either. Hopefully that sounds reasonable for everyone....
Hopefully if the weather is cooperative this weekend, I'll be doing a 'dry run' of this ride. I was looking at Mapquest Aerial View, and basically following the route as I had originally planned it. Most of it looks pretty good (at least from a bird's-eye perspective!), but I may adjust how much time we're on Rt. 543, as it seems to go through areas that are more built-up than I'd like (very difficult to avoid in the DC-Baltimore-Philadelphia corridor!).
I'll report back on the point-to-point distance, and hopefully this whole arrangement will work out well.
Well I just got back from the 'dry run' of our route, which combines elements of the 'Horses and Hounds' and the 'Mason and Dixon' scenic byways routes. Door-to-door it's about 75 miles, so I hope that's not too far for you guys (of course, that's in addition to your miles riding to Reisterstown AND your miles riding home from Broom's Bloom). So today I did about 160 miles total, which was great, and fortunately the forecasted rain didn't materialize.
So here is the complete route: 1) From Martha and Mary's, turn right out of the parking lot and head to Rt. 128 (about a mile down the road). 2) Turn right on Rt. 128, ride through Glyndon, and head to Butler Rd. Turn left on Butler Rd. 3) Take Butler Rd. to Dover Rd., bear left, then left again onto Dover Rd. 4) Dover Rd. becomes Trenton Rd. at the stop sign. Go straight at the stop sign onto Trenton Rd. 5) Take Trenton Rd. to the T-intersection at Black Rock Rd, turn left. 6) Take Black Rock Rd. to the traffic circle, and continue on Black Rock Rd. 7) At the stop sign, turn right onto Rt. 30 (Main St. Hampstead). This is one spot where our group could get separated. 8 ) Ride a very short distance and turn right onto Upper Beckleysville Rd. (This is a very small intersection) 9) Take Upper Beckleysville Rd. to the T-intersection at Brick Store Rd., turn left. 10) Take the 1st right on Brick Store Rd. onto Beckleysville Rd. 11) Cross Falls Rd. and continue on Beckleysville Rd. 12) Beckleysville Rd. curves right and becomes Cotter Rd. 13) Follow Cotter Rd. to Middletown Rd., turn right. 14) Middletown Rd. to York Rd., turn right. 15) York Rd. to Wiseburg Rd., turn left. 16) Ride to the Wiseburg Rd./Graystone Rd. intersection, and bear right to continue on Wiseburg Rd. 17) Follow Wiseburg Rd. to Hunters Mill Rd., turn left. 18) At the Hunters Mill Rd./Vernon Rd. fork, bear right to continue on Hunters Mill Rd. 19) Continue on Hunters Mill Rd. to the T-intersection at Troyer Rd. (unmarked), turn left. 20) Troyer Rd. to Norrisville Rd., turn right. 21) Follow Norrisville Rd. to Madonna Rd, turn left. 22) Madonna Rd. to Telegraph Rd., turn right. 23) Telegraph Rd. to Rt. 136, turn right. 24) Rt. 136 to Fawn Grove Rd., turn right. 25) Fawn Grove Rd. to Rt. 165, turn left. 26) Rt. 165 to Old Pylesville Rd., turn right. 27) Old Pylesville Rd. to Rt. 543 (Ady Rd.), turn right. 28) Rt. 543/Ady Rd. becomes N. Fountain Green Rd. 29) Turn right into Broom's Bloom where the cow sign is! (The 2nd Broom's Bloom entrance) Generally speaking, the roads are really great. The only boring part is Middletown Rd. and Rt. 543 (the road that Broom's Bloom is on). Well let me clarify that: Middletown Rd. COULD be nice, depending upon traffic. If there isn't any traffic it could probably be great. But if there is traffic, then it will be a bit of a bore. Rt. 543 is really the only road that puts you through a 'built-up' area, and we really have no choice but to use that route (taking Rt. 136 from the south would be worse). BTW, all the roads on this route are of the two-lane variety. The highlight roads are Wiseburg, Hunters Mill, and Madonna. Fawn Grove is pretty awesome too, but here again it depends on traffic (actually, they ALL depend upon the traffic!). So there you go. I let the owner of Martha and Mary's know that we'll be landing on the morning of the 10th, and she's totally cool with it. I didn't talk to anyone at Broom's Bloom, as I didn't think it was necessary. I'll try to remember to print copies of these directions for people. As you may have noticed, I did not make note of the mileage from road to road, turn to turn etc. I'm hoping that we'll pretty well be able to follow each other, and if not, you guys will just have to keep your eyes open for the signs. I-95 is only a couple of miles from Broom's Bloom, so hopefully that will help everyone get home in good time. Plus, there are gas stations near the I-95 ramp. Let's hope for good weather!
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||